Chapter 2 - The Man Was Alive
Everything happened at once after that.
The officer drew us backward. Thomas fully opened the casket but did not reach inside until the officer checked for immediate threats. Someone called emergency services even though three people had already started doing the same thing.
Emma screamed.
I turned her away before she could see more.
“Mommy, who is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where’s Daddy?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer became the center of my world.
The elderly man inside the coffin was conscious but weak. His suit was wrinkled, one shoe missing, and plastic restraints circled his wrists. There were bruises along his face, but nothing I will describe further because Emma was there and because suffering does not become more meaningful when made graphic.
Paramedics arrived.
They cut the restraints.
Removed the gag.
The man tried to speak.
His throat was dry.
One word came clearly.
“Daniel.”
I pushed toward him before the officer stopped me.
“You know Daniel?”
The man looked at me.
His eyes filled.
“Sarah?”
He knew my name.
Then he lost consciousness.
The paramedics carried him out.
The chapel became a crime scene.
Nobody was permitted to leave.
Ryan demanded an attorney.
Margaret demanded her own attorney.
Charles sat in a front pew and looked twenty years older than he had an hour earlier.
Emma stayed against my side.
Then my phone vibrated again.
Daniel.
I opened it.
A second message.
IF YOU GOT THE FIRST TEXT, CALL POLICE. DON’T TRUST RYAN. MARTIN KNOWS EVERYTHING.
I stared at Ryan.
He saw my face.
“What did he say?”
The officer stepped between us again.
“You’re done talking to her.”
Ryan backed away.
I looked at the message.
May you like
Martin.
That was the man in the coffin.
